Amos Mac

American writer, photographer and publisher

Amos Mac

Born|

Augusta, Georgia

Nationality| American
Alma mater| The New School
Known for| Photographer, writer, and publisher
Notable work| "Original Plumbing"
Website| https://www.amosmac.com/

Amos Mac (born 1981)[citation needed] is an American writer, photographer and a publisher from Augusta, Georgia. Mac is based in Los Angeles as a writer for television and film .[1]

## Early life

[edit]

He grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[2]

## Original Plumbing

[edit]

As a trans man, he co-founded and became editor in chief of Original Plumbing,[3] a magazine that focuses on the culture of female-to-male trans men and sexuality.[4] Mac chose Original Plumbing's title as a playful take on the obsession the media has with the genitalia of trans people.[5] To express and explore his culture of being a trans man in the United States, he and his friend Rocco Kayiatos started the magazine Original Plumbing in 2009 while they were both living in San Francisco.[6]

## Photography and other notable work

[edit]

As a visual artist, Mac's photography have appeared in The New York Times, Vogue Italia, BUTT Magazine, and OUT.

In 2011, he went on a national tour with feminist art group Sister Spit where he showcased photographs, read his writing and spoke candidly about trans representation in the media.[7]

In 2015 Amos Mac photographed a campaign for H&M's sister brand, & Other Stories, which became the first fashion campaign created by an all-transgender cast and crew.[8] The campaign featured models Hari Nef and Valentijn De Hingh.[9]

In June 2016, it was announced that Mac would be featured in The Trans List[10] an HBO documentary film produced by Janet Mock along with director Timothy Greenfield-Sanders. Mock also interviews the cast, which features ten prominent transgender figures besides Mac: Laverne Cox, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, Buck Angel, Kylar Broadus, Caroline Cossey, Shane Ortega, Alok Vaid-Menon, Nicole Maines, Bamby Salcedo and Caitlyn Jenner.

In The Trans List, Mac describes his life before transitioning. "I really don't know why I was waiting for so long," Mac says. "It seemed like it was no longer an option for my sanity or for my health. I had to stop spending so much time trying to cover up my emotions and my problems, and I had to deal with myself."[11]

Amos Mac sat for photographer Mark Seliger for his 2016 book of photographs On Christopher Street: Transgender Stories.[12]

## Film and television

[edit]

Mac currently works in Los Angeles, California on television shows and films. It was announced in October 2019 that Amos would be a writer for the Gossip Girl reboot for HBO Max.[13]

With Aisling Chin-Yee, Mac co-wrote No Ordinary Man, a Canadian documentary that premiered at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival.[14] The film is a portrait of Billy Tipton, the influential jazz musician who was revealed after his death to have been transgender.[15]

## Honors and recognition

[edit]

In 2014, Mac was named to the Trans 100 list for "outstanding contributions to the trans community."[16][17]

In 2018, after being named a Lambda Literary Writers' Retreat Fellow for Emerging LGBT Voices,[18] it was announced that Mac was writing a young adult novel.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Mac, Amos. "Amos Mac Official".
2. ^ Sharkey, M (2015-07-24). "Amos Mac: Trans Heartthrob". OUT Magazine. Retrieved 2016-11-29.
3. ^ Trebay, Guy (2010-08-11). "Original Plumbing Magazine Finds Its Audience". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-11-29.
4. ^ "Original Plumbing official website". Archived from the original on 2016-10-03. Retrieved 2016-11-29.
5. ^ Teeman, Tim (2016-12-03). "The Truth About Being Trans: Caitlyn Jenner and Others Open Up in HBO's 'The Trans List'". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2016-12-03.
6. ^ Jones, Laneia (2010-02-20). "Trans Photographer Amos Mac: The Autostraddle Interview". Autostraddle. Retrieved 2016-11-29.
7. ^ "Sister Spit readies their new spring tour - AfterEllen". AfterEllen. 2011-02-21. Retrieved 2016-12-03.
8. ^ Garcia, Patricia (2015-08-14). "The Transgender Gaze in the New & Other Stories Campaign". Vogue. Archived from the original on August 19, 2015. Retrieved 2016-11-29.
9. ^ Peoples, Landon (2015-08-14). "& Other Stories' Transgender Fashion Campaign Is A Major First". Refinery29. Retrieved 2016-11-29.
10. ^ Rooney, David (2016-06-22). "'The Trans List': Provincetown Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2016-11-29.
11. ^ Zurawik, David. "HBO's 'The Trans List' a powerful, personal exploration of transgender identity". baltimoresun.com. Retrieved 2016-11-29.
12. ^ "On Christopher Street: Transgender Stories". Barnes & Noble. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
13. ^ Mac, Amos (2019-10-01). "Hey Upper East Siders – Excited to announce I'm a writer for the new Gossip Girl series, truly honored to bring all the hot goss on the Manhattan elite to your viewing-screen-machines soon!". @theamosmac. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
14. ^ "No Ordinary Man". TIFF. Retrieved 2020-09-14.
15. ^ Tallerico, Brian (12 September 2020). "TIFF 2020: No Ordinary Man, MLK/FBI, The Boy from Medellin | Festivals & Awards". rogerebert.com. Retrieved 2020-09-14.
16. ^ "Complete 2014 Trans 100 List Released to the General Public". www.advocate.com. 2014-04-07. Retrieved 2021-06-17.
17. ^ "The Trans 100" (PDF). 2014.
18. ^ Gentes, Brian (2018-09-06). "Introducing Lambda Literary's 2018 Emerging Writers Retreat Fellows". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 2019-04-15.

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* WorldCat

National|

* Germany
* United States

Other|

* Yale LUX